Angela Bassett Height, Weight, Age, Body Statistics

Angela Bassett is an American actress who is best known for her role as Tina Turner in the biographical movie What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993). She was also cast as Ramonda in the Marvel Studios film Black Panther (2018). She is also a social activist and is an Ambassador of UNICEF. She also had a recurring role in American Horror Story: Coven. She has over 500k followers on Twitter and more than 1.5 million followers on Instagram.

Sun Sign

Born Place

Residence

Nationality

Education

Angela studied at the Jordan Park Elementary School and later attended Disston Middle School in the 7th grade. Following that, she completed her 8th and 9th grade at Azalea Middle School.

For her high school, she became a student at Boca Ciega High School and was a straight ‘A’ and ‘B’ student for the most part of her school life. While there, she was actively involved in the choir, cheerleading, drama club, student prep program, and many other clubs.

She attended Yale University and graduated in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in African-American studies. She also earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama.

Manager

Angela is represented by the California-based William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.

Genre

Soundtrack

Instruments

Vocals

Labels

She is unsigned.

But her music for the movie Black Nativity was released under the music label of RCA Records.

Build

Slim

Height

5 ft 3½ in or 161.5 cm

Weight

61 kg or 134.5 lbs

Boyfriend / Spouse

Angela Bassett has dated –

Mark Jenkins – Angela dated artist Mark Jenkins for a fleeting duration but not much is known about their time together except that they split soon enough.

Courtney B. Vance (1997-Present) – The first time Angela met her future husband, actor Courtney B. Vance, was while they both were studying at Yale School of Drama. Vance is around 2 years younger to her so they didn’t attend the same classes. Nevertheless, they ran in the same collegiate circles and stayed friends for the longest time. They met again about 14 years later in Los Angeles and as they were both single at the time, they fell for each other and began dating. The two have jokingly admitted that their first date was ‘boring’ but sparks began to fly when they went on their second date at a golf course. After having dated for a while, the couple tied the knot in a beautiful wedding ceremony on October 12, 1997. While nearing 10 years of married life, the couple sought the help of a surrogate and became parents to twins – a daughter named Bronwyn Golden Vance and son named Slater Josiah Vance on January 27, 2006, in California. They have set couple goals in Hollywood for having completed more than 20 years of marriage.

Sexual Orientation

Distinctive Features

Brand Endorsements

Religion

Christianity

Angela Bassett at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2015 (Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Best Known For

Her illustrious career, spanning over decades, portraying real-life African American women and strong female characters on celluloid with some of her most noteworthy roles like playing singing legend Tina Turner in the biopic What’s Love Got to Do with it (1993), Coretta Scott King in the television movie Betty & Coretta (2013), and Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X (1992)

Her activism work which includes being an active Ambassador for UNICEF

Supporting arts programs like the Royal Theater Boys & Girls Club in Florida, and attending events for children with diabetes and in foster homes

As a Singer

In 2008, Angela performed 2 songs titled I love Rock-n-Roll and Hit Me With Your Best Shot during her stint on the medical drama ER.

Angela also contributed to a few songs of the movie Black Nativity.

First Film

Angela made her theatrical film debut in 1986 as a TV reporter in the action-thriller film F/X.

First TV Show

She made her first TV show appearance in 1985 on the drama series Search For Tomorrow as Sarina McCulla.

Personal Trainer

Angela is known for being in top physical form despite her advancing age. In 2015, she started doing the TRX training under the guidance of fitness expert Rob Thompson of the ‘Get Fit By Rob’ fame. Her workout routine involved beginning with low cardio exercises like running half a mile, then lifting barbells and using a few machines.

For her diet, she tries to eat healthy with some helpful tips from Rob. While working on set, she generally opts for chicken and broccoli or asparagus which combines a good lean protein with vegetables and salad. She also loves tuna sandwiches for which she uses P28 High Protein Bread. To it, she adds tuna fish with yogurt, Dijon mustard, some paprika, pepper, olives, and red ball pepper.

Angela Bassett sporting a black dress at the National Board of Review Awards Gala in New York City in January 2013 (DWNews Recent Celeb Gallery / Flickr / CC BY 2.0)

Angela Bassett Facts

Angela received her middle name from her aunt Evelyn. Furthermore, her surname originates from her paternal great-grandfather William Henry Bassett. Apparently, he took the name from his former oppressor whose children later became the founders of the place called Bassett in Virginia.

One of her earlier works included working as a photo researcher at U.S. News & World Report magazine. She also worked as a receptionist at a beauty salon after graduating from Yale.

Angela discovered her passion for acting at the age of 16 when her 11th-grade class trip visited Washington D.C in 1974. She watched actor James Earl Jones perform in a Kennedy Center production of the play Of Mice and Men and was so impressed that she decided to make acting her career of choice.

While studying at Boca Ciega High School, she achieved the feat of being the first African American student from the school to participate in the Upward Bound – an academic and cultural enrichment program for underprivileged kids at the National Honor Society (NHS).

Angela was born on the same day as that of pop sensation Madonna – August 16, 1958.

On July 13, 2013, she was initiated as an honorary member of the college-educated women’s sorority group Delta Sigma Theta.

Angela has admitted to being a huge fan of The Jackson 5 during her formative years. She further added that she dreamt of marrying the member with the ‘cutest and roundest Afro’ from the musical family group. It was at this time that her interest in entertainment was developing as she and her sister would regularly put on shows performing popular songs and reading poetry for the family.

On March 20, 2008, she became one of the many actors to get her own star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star shines at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Angela is one of the only 10 African-American actresses to be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Actress category since its inception in 1929. She was nominated for her role in What’s Love Got to Do with it in 1994.

Her path-breaking performance as Tina Turner in the 1993 biopic What’s Love Got to Do with it made into the list of Premiere Magazine’s List of 100 Greatest Film Performances of all time at the 95th spot.

As of July 2018, she is the only African-American recipient of the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her portrayal of singer Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do with it (1993).

She turned down the role of Leticia Musgrove in Monster’s Ball (2001) because she was not comfortable with the role’s requirement for nudity. The role was eventually played by Halle Berry who became the first African-American actress to win the Best Actress Oscar in its history.

Angela received an honorary doctoral degree from her alma-mater Yale University in fine arts in 2018.

Her 1995 film Strange Days had her saying the line “this is your life, right here, right now!”. Her voice (saying the line) was sampled by English musician Fatboy Slim for his hit single Right Here, Right Now in 1998.

In 2015, she voiced the first ever female role of “Agent Six” for the video game Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege.

Urban dictionary has an entry in her name called the “Angela Bassett Moment”, which is an ode to a famous scene in the film Waiting To Exhale (1995). The entry describes a woman’s wrath at being cheated on by destroying her lover’s personal belongings, by usually setting things on fire as revenge.

She has teamed up with German doctor Barbara Sturm to launch a skin care line of products for people of color. The Dr. Barbara Sturm skin care collection includes cleansers, face creams, and hydraulic serums.

She marked her directorial debut in 2015 with Whitney, a television film about the life and struggles of American all-time best selling artist Whitney Houston.